Hostage
by OkeeDokee
Summary: The wedding in Fairest retold from Evret's perspective.


**"Hostage" - a** ** _Lunar Chronicles_** **one-shot fanfic**

 **by OkeeDokee**

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The officiant plucked a shimmering gold ribbon from a shiny silver dish on the altar and wrapped it dexterously and carefully around Levana's thin wrists with the skill of someone who had repeated the same ceremony a hundred times, perhaps even more. Her caramel eyes gleamed with unidentifiable, clashing emotions. This was her wedding day, this was what she always wanted, this was everything she asked for. Her dreams were coming true.

While Evret's dreams crashed around him like a flaming meteor shower.

He never thought that Levana would escalate their relationship to this. He had thought that to her, this was all a game, a sick scheme of manipulation to get what she wanted. And once she had all that she wished for, she would forget him and move on. But once she had proposed to him, he knew that this was more than he had previously imagined. That this was for all their lives.

The officiant finished with Levana and grabbed the next gold ribbon from the dish. He droned on about the importance of their matrimonial union and what it would include. The first time he had heard those words, Evret had been ecstatic, filled with high spirits over the fact that he was going to be married to the one he loved dearly and unconditionally.

Graceful, gorgeous, happy, benevolent Solstice.

 _Sol..._

Cold, empty, lifeless, dead Solstice.

The ribbon's silky surface slid smoothly over his dark brown skin and he couldn't help but think of it as a slippery serpent that was signifying, confirming his reluctant ascension to the corrupt royalty of Luna.

Evret was becoming a prince today. He should be elated, excited that he had been proposed to by a member of the aristocracy, that he and his young daughter were climbing the ladder of nobility, that we was marrying _Princess Levana._ But he could muster not a single tiny iota of jubilation. All he could feel was an echoing emptiness that ached in his chest.

Instead, he was repulsed at the idea of being an associate of the Lunar court. Through his years as a guard in the long, serpentine halls of the palace, he had witnessed many accounts of physical abuse to innocent servants, exquisite and misleading glamours, unnerving demonstrations of the Lunar gift.

He, better than most people, knew that the royalty of Artemisia were nothing as they seemed. Beneath their striking, flawless glamours, they could be anybody they wished to be, wished people to see them as. Underneath their veil of lies they could be ugly, deformed, scarred, disgusting, repulsive. And no one would be the wiser, for they would be to worried about their presentation and appearance.

He knew of the savage mind games of power and dominion they played with each other, that were more than simple entertainment. The vicious rumors whispered from ear to ear of what someone _really_ looked like when she let down her glamour. He had heard too many of those involving the name of Levana. And now he was marrying her. What gossip would be spread around the palace about _him_?

The officiant took the velvety gold ribbons and tied them together twice. "Knotting the two ribbons together symbolizes the unity of the bride and groom into one being and one soul, on this, the twenty-seventh day of April in the one-hundred-and-ninth year of the third era." He let go of the bound ribbons and they drooped between their arms.

Hearing the officiant explain every wedding ritual reminded Evret of the first time he had heard them. His first love, his first marriage. His binding to elegant, beautiful Solstice, the woman he truly belonged with. Their marriage had been short but romantic and ardent compared to his and Levana's painful one-sided relationship. He would give anything to be with her again. The _real_ Solstice Hayle. Not a princess masquerading around as her.

Every time he saw Levana glamoured as her, it was like plunging a sharp, piercing knife in his chest. Bringing him back to the hospital where he watched her give birth to his precious, adorable daughter. Watched her face contort in pain. Watched as her blood seeped into the sheets, staining it forever crimson. Watched her as the life leaked out of her eyes in the form of salty tears until it was all gone, leaving blank, lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling.

Levana would never understand what he endured. Would never be able to offer comforting solace like she wished to. Never. Not when she still liked like _her._

A veil of silence had filled the sun chapel, but Winter's sudden crying ripped it to shreds. Evret snapped his gaze toward her, the nanny desperately attempting to quiet his little daughter.

Levana followed suit and threw a hostile glare at Winter. Though she claimed to love Winter as her very own child, he knew that Levana would never really think of her as family.

"You will be exchanging rings?" the officiant inquired, gathering everybody's focus.

Evret gave a curt nod, and caught surprise in her eyes. She apparently had not prepared to do so.

He turned to the audience, which consisted of Evret's friend, Garrison Clay, his plain wife, their rambunctious blond toddler—Jacin was his name—baby Winter, and her nanny. Garrison stepped up from his pew to slowly give Evret him two black rings carved from regolith. They were nothing special and held almost no value, but that was exactly what made him want to use them as wedding bands for the occasion. It was a ring for a poor guard's wife, not the princess of Luna.

He caught a look from Garrison that conveyed everything they had spoken of before the wedding, when they had first arrived at the sun chapel. Garrison had argued with Evret, telling him over and over not to marry Levana. Evret had ignored his reasoning, even though he knew it was wise advice.

It didn't matter if Evret had replied with a yes or no to Levana's proposition. She would still create a devious plan to get her way. She could have even asked her older sister, Queen Channary, to persuade or even command Evret to marry Levana if she wanted. This Evret knew, and it was why he did not quarrel any further with his reliable friend, saying that he would not protest against the princess's wishes.

Evret noticed tears springing up in Levana's eyes as Garrison returned to his pew and sat down next to his wife.

The cold regolith chilled his skin and he wanted to toss the rings away. But, no. He forced his fingers to curl around the bands. The bands that would hold him prisoner to a princess, fasten him to Levana.

Again, Evret couldn't help but think of Solstice when they had been married. It had been a joyful time, full of laughter, family, new beginnings, and happiness. He had wanted to form a family with her. He had wanted to grow old with her. He had wanted to spend an eternity with her. He had never in a thousand years planned on becoming Princess Levana's husband. His brown, gold-flecked eyes became stormy and dark.

"Please take hands and face each other for the exchange," said the officiant.

They met one another's gaze and Levana gave a shy smile meant to be easing, but Evret found it strangely unsettling.

The urge to speak up against the princess and the wedding suddenly arose in Evret like a murky wave in Artemisia Lake. The urge to speak his mind and tell her what he honestly thought about her. The urge to wrap Winter in his arms and flee to the outer sectors of Luna so Levana could never find him again. Could never hold him against his will again.

Evret took in a deep breath of cold air and opened his mouth, preparing to unleash his thoughts.

But a rational piece of his mind told advised him not to. Humiliating the princess by admitting he didn't want her at her own wedding? After all, no matter how many times he forgot that she was royalty, misfortune would surely ensue if he dared to try anything like that. What would they do to him? What would they do to Winter? No, he would keep silent. This time. He had to think of more than just himself now.

After his hesitation, he closed his lips.

Evret took one of the rings from his palm and glided it slowly onto Levana's extended hand.

The officiant began to read out loud the nuptial oaths and he repeated after him. "With this ring, I take you, Princess Levana Blackburn of Luna, to be my wife. From this day forward, you will be my sun at dawn and my stars at night, and I vow to love and cherish you for all our days."

Levana's smile grew as she watched the band on her delicate finger and she seized the second regolith ring from Evret's palm and slid it onto his outstretched finger, where his and Solstice's wedding band still remained. It was similar to the one she was trying to give him, so dark it had blended with his skin and she hand not taken note of it until now. He refused to to take it off. It was the one of the few things he had left of her, the true her. He set his jaw stubbornly as he promised himself to never remove it.

Levana flicked her eyes up to him.

"I will not take it off, but I will wear both," whispered Evret, resolute in his decision.

"Of course," she replied quietly as she moved the band on Evret's finger until the two black rings touched one another.

"With this ring," Levana recited gladly, "I take you, Sir Evret Hayle of Luna, to be my husband. From this day forward, you will be my sun at dawn and my stars at night, and I vow to love and cherish you for all of our days."

With every word she uttered, it felt like a bar of metal fell around him, constructing an inescapable cage, where he would be eternally kept captive to Princess Levana. He wondered that maybe eventually he could learn to love her, to think of her as his actual wife, mother to his only child. Maybe they could become a perfect, harmonious family. Suddenly, as he realized that the fantasy disgusted him, he rejected it from his mind and focused back into the moment.

The officiant affirmed the wedding ceremony, and Winter's shrill wailing became louder, as if she somehow knew that their marriage was ill-fated and hopeless. Jacin tried to catch a peek of infant, howling Winter in the nanny's arms. Levana glared at them, no doubt irritated at the interruption.

Without realizing what he was doing, Evret took Levana's hands in his, regaining her attention and brought his mouth to hers in a tender, gentle kiss. He could feel Levana's blush warming his skin, leaning eagerly into him. For him, it was passionless and frigid. He felt nothing but the empty ache that resided in him.

He pulled back, severing the kiss, staring deep into Levana's caramel eyes. Solstice's eyes. His wife's eyes. Were they now the same? Would he ever know the difference?

Evret shook the questions off of his mind. He had more important things to consider. He was a prince. He was a husband. He was a hostage.

Forever.

 **The End**

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 **Author's Note:** This fanfic was inspired after I read _Fairest_ for the third time over. It's a retelling of the wedding (pages 111 to 115) from Evret's point of view, obviously. I wanted readers to have a look inside Evret's mind. (Or, what _I_ thought was inside of Evret's mind.) I hope that everyone who read this fanfic liked my point of view and writing. Please review if you did! Any other fanfic ideas are welcome as well as constructive criticism. Thank you for reading this.


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